Benjamin Jealous, civil and human rights leader, former NAACP president and CEO, and 2018 Maryland gubernatorial candidate, will give the keynote speech during a week of activities, speeches and events commemorating Martin Luther King during the University of Vermont’s annual MLK Week.
All events except for Bassem Yousef at the Flynn Theatre are free and open to the public.
Tickets are required for the Benjamin Jealous keynote speech, but they are free. They are available to the to the UVM community beginning January 14 at 8 a.m. and to the general public starting January 17 at 8 a.m. Tickets can be obtained online at tickets.uvm.edu or in person at the Dudley H. Davis Center Miller information desk (3rd floor) during business hours.
The events of MLK Week are as follows.
Thursday, January 17, 11-3, Dudley Davis Center, first floor
- MLK birthday party. A civil right walk-and-learn display with light refreshments.
Tuesday, January 22, 4-5:30, Ira Allen Chapel
- MLK Week keynote speech by Benjamin Jealous, civil and human rights leader, former NAACP president and CEO, 2018 Maryland gubernatorial candidate.
Free tickets are available online at tickets.uvm.edu or in person at the Dudley H. Davis Center Miller Information Desk (3rd floor) during business hours. Tickets are available to the general public starting January 17 at 8 a.m. and to the UVM community beginning January 14 at 8 a.m.
The event will also feature a special performance by American gospel recording artist and actor Angela “Missy” Billups. Billups is a three-time award winner of the New York Tri-State McDonald’s Gospelfest and is the lead vocalist in the upcoming broadway musical Committed.
Wednesday, January 23, 5:30-7, Sullivan Classroom, Room 200, Larner Medical Education Center
- MLK Health Equity Lecture. Dr. Herman A. Taylor, Jr., professor of medicine and director of the Cardiovascular Research Institute at Morehouse School of Medicine, will give a speech titled “Risk, Race and Resilience: Three Dimensions of Health Disparities”
Thursday, January 24, 7 p.m., UVM Interfaith Center on UVM’s Redstone campus
- Lift Every Voice: Celebrating Our Creativity and Commitment. A celebration of love, resilience, and resistance as a diverse group of artists share their creative responses to oppression and injustice through the spoken word, movement and more.
Friday, January 25, 8 p.m, Flynn Center for the Performing Arts
- Bassem Youssef, Egyptian comedian, writer, producer, surgeon, physician, media critic, and television host, will perform “The Joke Is Mightier than the Sword.” ($10 tickets are available to UVM students, faculty and staff presenting UVM ID at the Flynn Tix Regional Box Office lobby window. One discounted ticket each per student; two per faculty and staff)
The events in MLK Week are organized by UVM’s Office of the Vice President for Human Resources, Diversity and Multicultural Affairs in collaboration with UVM president Tom Sullivan, the Department of Student Life, the Larner College of Medicine and the Interfaith Center. For more information, visit www.uvm.edu/hrdma/mlk.
Source: UVM News